Friday, January 24, 2020

Misuse of Ritalin :: Drugs Argumentative Persuasive Topics

Misuse of Ritalin Kyle Carroll of Albany, New York was diagnosed with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) when he was in the first grade. His teacher told his parents, Michael and Jill, that Kyle was too hyper and couldn't concentrate for long periods of time. Without even going to see a professional about Kyle's problem, Kyle was put on Ritalin. Immediately, his parents started to notice side effects on Kyle and when they tried to take their child off of the medication, the teacher threatened to call social services and lodge a complaint about child abuse (Karlin). Many families across America are faced with the problem of ADHD. In fact, approximately 4-million school aged children suffer from ADHD (Rowland). Many cases are misdiagnosed and over one million children take Ritalin who don't need it (Karlin). In 1939, Dr. C. Bradley first prescribed Methylphenidate, or Ritalin, as a stimulant to treat children with ADHD (Mann). ADHD is a brain disorder characterized by a short attention span, jumpiness, and impulsive behavior. To be diagnosed, the victim of the disease usually has gone to see an average of eleven doctors (Rowland). Ritalin is a risky drug. Taking this drug means having to take a dosage every four hours. Like any other medication, large doses can lead to addiction. At the end of the day, when the medication starts to wear off, mood swings occur and the sufferer becomes irritable. Side effects, which include insomnia, loss of appetite, stunted height, and irritability are brutal to the victim (Mann). Ritalin, if taken improperly, can increase a person's heartbeat and blood pressure. This can cause cardiac arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat) and premature death. If ADHD doesn't get treated correctly, or within the first couple of years, there are some serious long term consequences (Ciampa). Ritalin is also hitting the streets of college campuses under the names of "Vitamin R" and "R-Ball". College students are using this drug to improve concentration, so they can study longer, boost their alertness during major tests, and to help stay up all night. Selling and buying this drug is illegal, but anyone can find it on almost all of the campuses. College kids aren't the only ones who find this a booster.

Wednesday, January 15, 2020

Dramatic Impact in Act 3 of The Crucible Essay

There are many different ways/techniques in which miller creates dramatic impact in act 3. It all starts in the beginning when the play is set off-stage, ‘The room is empty’, which creates an air of mystery and make people hear and listen hard to what is going on. It also makes the audience/reader wonder who the new voices are (Hathorne and Danforth). Then when Giles roars into the court, ‘I have evidence for the court’, the audience who are so concentrated on hearing will immediately jolt and get a fright from the noise and there starts the drama. The dramatic structure of this act plays a key role in the dramatic impact/tension of the act. It starts off with a bang, then goes down in tension, then rises to another climax, continuously. An example of this is: in the beginning Giles roars into court, then this is questioning and explaining, ‘Your Excellency, I only said she were readin’ books†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ which lowers the tension then Fransis shws his deposition and the tension and expectation rises again. Most of the act rises and falls in this manner. This technique emphasizes the dramatic points in the play because it sort of isolates them between parts that aren’t so dramatic. All the little high drama points in the act are leading to the main one in the end. The 3 depositions, Nurse’s, Giles’s and Mary’s, create huge drama in the way that they are presented and out hopes are raises that the court will see justice and then turned down by the court for a small reason. For example: Giles deposition, which stated that Putnam was out for land, was turned down because he wouldn’t give the name of the witness, ‘Why, I-I can not give you his name’. This raising of our hopes then destroying them, continuously, mirrors the impact of the structure of the act. The mention and showing of each deposition creates high drama/tension and as each deposition is destroyed, the dram and our hopes go down. Another dramatic point in this act, of course, is the girls. When they start seeing â€Å"spirits†, ‘A wind, a cold wind, has come’ the tension is raised because the audience knows they are lying but doesn’t know if the court will believe it. They claim that Mary is threatening them with her spirit, ‘Why do you come yellow bird?’ and this threatens Proctor and Mary’s deposition. While the girls are constantly â€Å"seeing spirits† and â€Å"chanting†, they are luring Mary back into their grasp and Proctor notices this, ‘with a hysterical cry Mary Warren starts to run. Proctor catches her’ and this prompts a huge dramatic part in the act: Proctors confession. Knowing Proctors character as a law obeying man with a good reputation and wanting to keep it, this confession shocks the audience and is a big dramatic high. The beginning of the confession is the main shocker to the audience and the court, ‘How do you call Heaven! Whore! Whore!’. When the court decides to look further into Proctors claim of adultery, they call in Elizabeth, who Proctor says never lies. When she lies, presumably for the first time, this is another high point in the act. She, and the audience, realizes what she has done and everyone gets scared and fears the worst. The end is the most dramatic part of the play because Proctor says that he and Danforth are Evil, ‘I see his filthy face! And it is my face, and yours, Danforth’ and this surly means (to the audience) Proctor will be charged heavily. With the hero in jail, what is left for the rest of Salem? This is what the audience will ask themselves. Another part at the end of the act which shows drama is when Hale denounces the court because, as the main priest and witchcraft expert in this ‘trail’ he is supposed to be righteous and tells us that Hale is someone who now really believes the girls are lying. Not only the content of the act but also Millers development and introduction of the characters create dramatic impact. Two main once stand out as very dramatic are Danforth and Hale. The introduction of Danforth in this act, I would consider, is a dramatic point because he is quite stern and the audience no idea what to expect from him. Will he be fair? Will he side with Abigail? The audience is faced with a mystery. All the other characters have been mentioned before and we have an idea of who they are and what to expect from them. With Danforth, especially him being in a position of extreme power, it is dramatic that we don’t know what he is like. In the beginning of the play, we understood that Hale was a self important man who wanted to seem the hero and wasn’t afraid to cry witchery on someone. During this act, he is defensive and doesn’t exactly believe in all the ‘witches’. It is al if he thinks he has caused all this and wants to fix it. ‘Is every defense an attack upon the court?’, ‘Excellency, a moment. I think this goes to the heart of the matter’. He is starting to side more with Proctor in believing this is all the girls and they may have caused this. It his the last quote of Proctors sums up what is going on in act 3 and why it is so dramatic: ‘You are pulling Heaven down and raising up a whore!’. We, as the audience, know things the characters don’t (dramatic irony) and this is a great example. We know the girls are lying, but the court and many people don’t, they believe the ‘whore’ and not ‘heaven’ (the whore being Abigail and Heaven being truth and righteousness).

Tuesday, January 7, 2020

A Fresh Perspective Of Behavioural Finance Finance Essay - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 10 Words: 3013 Downloads: 9 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Finance Essay Type Argumentative essay Did you like this example? In the present times, investment decision making process is a very complex phenomenon for individuals. Theoretically speaking, investment decisions are guided by various economic models which regard man as Homo economicus who is rational in his economic choices. In reality, the information required for the decision making process is limited and hence the rationality of man is also bounded. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "A Fresh Perspective Of Behavioural Finance Finance Essay" essay for you Create order Thus, in some part of investment decision making process, man may even be emotional or irrational. So in order to guide individuals to make correct choices, economic models should integrate and incorporate psychological theory as well. This is the basic premise of a new paradigm in the field of investment decision making called Behavioural Finance. This subject focuses on how investors interpret and act on information to take investment decision. It uses knowledge from both psychological field and financial theory. Behavioural finance asserts that behavioural biases and heuristics play an important part in influencing the investment decision making processes. A bias is a departure from normative, optimal or rational behaviour.In the investment decision making process, biases can either arise when the decision maker forms beliefs about probabilities of events and values of outcomes or when he sets preferences among the available options. Heuristics are rules of thumbs that help indivi duals to take the most optimum decisions in situations which are cognitively complex. In either case, heuristics and biases if consistently practiced lead to various abnormalities and anomalies. This is a conceptual paper which aims to study various psychological biases which arise from a variety of cognitive mechanisms. An attempt is made to extract from literature of various authors different frameworks in which most known heuristics and biases can be organized. An endeavour to understand their impact will be of great help to investors to acquire the best outcomes by suggesting remedial action. Introduction In the present world, investment decision makingis a complex process. It is dynamic activity which is influenced by many variables and subject to many constraints. These limitations arise due to various environmental and cognitive reasons. Investments are made for earning a return.Investors make investment decisions for maximising their returns but sometimes they are not aware which variables are effecting their decisions due to which they may not be able to maximise their returns. Many times investors want to know which these variables are and what are the implications on their decision making process especially when they are they spending time and money to learn about investment by reading books, attending lectures, listening to all the expert advice on the television and internet chat sites. If investors reflect back, they will realise that some of the common mistakes which they make are buying stocks which are highly priced, booking profits too soon and not liquidating share son which there could be losses if they hold them, and most commonly buying when others are buying and selling because others are selling. These are examples of investor behaviour.The term behaviour literally means the aggregate of all the responses made by an organism in any situation and a specific response of a certain organism to a specific stimulus or a group of stimuli (American Heritage Dictionary, 2003). There is a dire need to understand the behaviour of investors in order to assist them to develop their own trading strategy and investment philosophy. A solution and understanding of many of these issues are the main pedagogical goals of Behavioural finance. Behavioural finance closely combines individual behaviour and market phenomena and uses knowledge taken from both the psychological field and financial theory. In his inaugural address at Interdisciplinary Seminar on Psychonomics on February 6, 2012, Harun R. Khan, Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India emphasises on the resurgence of psychology in economics for linking cognitive models of decision making with economic models of rational behaviour to understand and avoid recent market distortions driven by human traits.Behavioural Finance is a new paradigm of finance theory, which seeks to understand and predict systematic financial market implications of psychological decision-making. Background: During the classical period, economics had a recognized association with psychology. Adam Smith had described psychological principles of individual behaviour in his work, The theory of Moral Sentiments. Jeremy Bentham wrote on psychological aspects of utility while propounding his utilitarism ideas. However, overtime economists in the race of shaping the discipline as a natural science started to distance themselves from psychology. In economics, man or Homo economicus appears perfectly rational and has a complete knowledge and his economic choices are guided by rationality. This means that his choices are consistent, self-contained and he is perfectly rational without being affected by his emotions or his environment. Thus economic theory of Investment decision treats investment decision of an individual as a macroeconomic aggregate and the microeconomic foundations of it are drawn from intertemporal utility theory. This means that individuals maximise their utility based on clas sic wealth criteria making a choice between consumption and investment through time. However, as per studies conducted by Herbert Simon, rationality of individuals is limited by the information they have, the cognitive limitations of their minds and the finite amount of time they have to make decisions. He has coined the term bounded rationality in his book. He argues that most people are only partly rational while are emotional/irrational in the remaining part of their actions. He says that perfect or global rationality is practically and not logically impossible. He claims that classical theories of Rational Choice fail to include some of the central problem of conflict and dynamics which economics are more and more concerned with. Accordingly, concept of rationality has some limits such as risk and uncertainty, incomplete information about alternatives and complexity. (Models of Man, 1972).There was a resurgence of psychology in economics in the 1960s when Ward Edwards, Amos Tver sky and Daniel Kahnemann began to compare cognitive models decision making under risk and uncertainty to economic models of rational behaviour. Decision making is a process involving making an optimal choice between various alternatives. Since individuals lack the ability and resources to arrive at the optimal solution, they instead apply their rationality only after having greatly simplified the choices available. As a result, Simon claims that individuals have only bounded rationality and are forced to make decisions not by maximization but by satisficing. Satisficing is the hypothesis which allows to the conception of diverse decision procedures and which permits rationality to operate in an open not pre-determined space (Barros, 2010). This is where psychological theory comes into play.In the real world, individuals make decisions using heuristics or rules of thumb that satisfice rather than maximize utility over the long run. Thus individuals employ the use of heuristics to make decisions rather than a strict rule of optimization. These heuristics are useful as they make cognitively difficult tasks easier. However they can lead to systematic biases. When a behavioural bias is consistently practiced, it gives a foundation for prediction of behaviour. The study of this field will be particularly useful where it can influence returns from investment. There is little doubt that an understanding of how such biases and heuristics influence investment decision or impact investment returns will generate insights that greatly benefit the investors. Such behavioural biases and heuristics form the subject matter of Behavioural Finance. Behavioural Finance focuses on how investors interpret and act on information to make investment decisions. It also places an emphasis on investors behaviour leading to various market anomalies. Behavioural Finance closely combines individual behaviour and market phenomena and uses knowledge taken from both the psychological fie ld and financial theory. (Fromlet, 2001).Behavioural Finance seeks to understand and predict systematic financial market implications of psychological decision processes. In addition it focuses on the application of psychological and economic principles for improvement of financial decision making. (Olsen, 1998) Cornerstones of Behavioural Finance Behavioural Finance takes into account the effect of human psychology in investment decision making. It overcomes the shortcomings of traditional finance and finds better explanations of investor behaviour by disregarding the assumptions that investors are rational and markets are efficient. The first foundation stone of Behavioural finance is Mental Accounting. It is a process which helps the investors in using cognitive skills to organise, evaluate and keep track of their financial activities. Mental accounting has three components. First, the outcomes are perceived and experienced and then decisions are taken and evaluated. Second, investing activities are grouped into categories, including the sources and use of funds. Third, the activities are balanced either daily, monthly or yearly, depending on the preferences of a person. (Thaler,1999) Mental Accounting violates economics assumptions because money placed in one mental account is not a perfect substitute of money placed in another account. The second foundation stone of Behavioural finance is Loss Aversion. Since investors engage in mental accounting, investors group the financial transactions either one at a time or in portfolios and myopically evaluate the transactions i.e make short term rather than long term decisions and evaluate gains and losses frequently. According to Kahneman, Tversky and Schwarz and Thaler (1997), individual investors are more sensitive to decrease in their wealth rather than increases and value losses more heavily than gains. The third foundation stone of Behavioural finance is Framing. According to Kahneman and Tversky (1981), when investors face a decision problem, they try to associate each alternative choice with a decision frame. This frame depends on the personal characteristics of the investor and how the problem is formulated. They have found that choices that involve gains are risk averse and choices that involve losses are risk taking. The fourth found ation stone of Behavioural finance is Prospect Theory. This is the seminal work of Kahnemann and Tversky developed in 1979. Prospect Theory is an alternative theory to analyse decision making in situations that involve risk. In Prospect Theory, an outcome is called a prospect and involves a decision with some risk. Instead of wealth, focus is on gains and losses; decision weights replace probabilities and loss aversion is used in place of risk aversion. Decision making process is made up of two stages, the editing phase and the evaluation phase. In the first phase, possible outcomes are arranged on the basis of some heuristic. When investors look at outcomes, they make a mental note of an approximate and possible average outcome. This average is used as a reference point for ordering the lower outcomes as losses and higher ones as gains. Hence, according to Prospect theory, value is a function of the reference point and the distance of the value from the reference point. Many experi ments have been carried out to validate the theory in order to show that investors focus on gains and losses rather than final wealth. Thus from various studies it is clear that investors rely on heuristics which reduce the complex tasks of assessing probabilities and predicting values to simpler judgemental operations. Individual Investors who use heuristics are prone to biases which may lead to anomalies in the market. An empirical result qualifies as an anomaly if it is difficult to rationalize, or if implausible results are necessary to explain it within the paradigm. (Thaler, 1987). The understanding of heuristics and biases with the help of research in Behavioural finance will help to develop an awareness of what, why and how of investing and finance. Investors and advisors may be able to improve economic outcomes and attain stated financial objectives. This could save clients from financial misadventures. Categories and Causes of Biases Knowledge of biases and modification of or adaptation to irrational behaviour will lead to superior results. This paper also aims to develop an awareness of biases, their implications and ways of moderating their impact and adapting to them. This may even serve as a fundamental tenet of a successful investment strategy. Although it is very difficult task to present heuristics and biases because they arise from a variety of cognitive mechanisms, an attempt is made here to extract from the literature of various authors different frameworks in which most known heuristics and biases can be organized. After review of literature available on heuristics and behavioural biases, it is found that the common mistakes caused by cognitive limitations can be classified into two categories; how investors think and how investors feel. These two categories are used to classify various biases to which individual investors are susceptible to in the investment decision making process. Under the first category of how investors think, the most commonly existing bias is Representativeness. Investors tend to judge the probability of an event by finding a comparable known event and assuming that the probabilities are similar. As a part of drawing meaning from what we experience, we need to classify things. If something does not fit exactly into a known category, we will approximate with the nearest class available. For e.g., Ifstocks of Tata Steel perform extraordinarily, investors will rush to buy stocks of Essar Steel. This representative thinking makes them believe that Essar steel will perform similarly. (Parikh, 2009)Also because of Representativeness bias, investors may make mistakes while examining past stock returns. For example, stocks with strong performance during the past three to five years are considered as winners. As a result, considering past return to be representative of what to expect in future, investors chase the winners and buy such stocks. They tend to b e overly optimistic about past winners and overly pessimistic about losers. Secondly, investors tend to place more faith in familiar stocks leading to familiarity bias. For example, Investors buy stocks of companies which have local of regional business presence ( Huberman, 2011). Investors disproportionately include in their portfolio, stocks belonging to their country despite knowing the benefits of international diversification. This is known as home bias (French and Poterba, 1991) Third very commonly existing bias is over confidence. Belsky and Gilovich (1999) note that overconfidence is pervasive. It is like an ego trap under the influence of which the investor thinks while picking up winning stocks that their knowledge is more accurate than it really is. This bias may exist because of illusion of knowledge or illusion of control of uncontrollable events. According to Barber and Odean (2002), online investors routinely experience these attributes. Overconfidence causes in vestors to trade too much and take too much risk. Fourthly, investors experience anchoring bias. They become fixated with reference points. According to Benartzi and Thaler (1995), investors start comparing the stock price with the reference point. This reference point may be the purchase price. The brains choice of reference point is important because it will determine whether the investor will feel the pleasure of obtaining a profit or the pain of making a loss. As justified by Prospect Theory of Kahnemann and Tversky, investor will assign separate value premiums to the profits and losses. This bias also causes investors to periodically update the reference point to reflect unrealized profit. The next list of biases can be placed in the category of how investors feel. It is commonly said that stock markets are motivated by greed and fear. Other emotions which can hamper good investment decisions are hope, pride and regret. Firstly, due to emotions like pride and regret, i nvestors are predisposed to selling winners too early and holding losers too long. Shefrin and Statman (1985) have shown in their studies that investors tend to avoid regret and seek pride leading to disposition bias which may lead to poor results. Shefrin (2000) further attributes this bias to stem from conservatism. The second psychological bias which can be placed in this category is attachment bias which is the reason behind why investors become emotionally attached to a security. As a result, the investors fail to recognize bad news about the company and consequently hold the stock too long. Another bias which many investors fall prey to is Gamblers fallacy. After large gains and losses, emotions are particularly strong according to Thaler and Johnson (1990). Large gains cause the investors to become greedy and they feel that they are betting with someone elses money. This causes them to accept too much risk. On the other hand, large losses cause investors to either becom e loss averse completely to the investment activity as defined by Kahneman and Tversky (1979) as loss aversion or they may cause the investors to take more risk in an attempt to recoup their loss. This event is defined by Shefrin (2000) as get eventitis. In either case these biases clouds judgement and investment decision making process. Another bias which causes faulty decisions in invest decision process is herd behaviour. Investors show a tendency to mimic the actions of a larger group though individually, they would have not made the same choice. The cause behind this may be the social pressure of conformity and another may be a common rationale that a large group is unlikely to be wrong. Although it is very difficult task to present heuristics and biases because they arise from a variety of cognitive mechanisms, an attempt is made here to present those psychological biases which arise out of individual investors cognitive and emotional limitations. If the individual inves tors overcome these biases and take appropriate steps to check themselves at the right time, such mistakes will have less influence on investment decisions and potentially lead to improved investment results. Conclusion: Behavioural finance presents a paradigm shift in explaining investment decision making process of individual investors by throwing light on various psychological biases.No easy solutions exist for overcoming the affects of these biases according to Belsky and Gilovich (1999). Merely learning about them will also not eliminate them but at least it will be the first step towards appreciating the importance of this field of study and the limitation of traditional finance in explaining complex phenomena in the financial markets. Baker and Nofsinger (2002) suggest that investors should understand and recognize biases and develop quantitative investment criteria to achieve their investment goals. This paper is an attempt to understand individual investment decision making from a behavioural perspective. The awareness and knowledge of this field of study is at a very nascent stage in India. An emotionally restrained approach to investing based on behavioural finance will go a long way in helping them attain their desired objectives.

Monday, December 30, 2019

Heart of Darkness Lit. Journal - 1712 Words

Heart of Darkness: Literary Vocabulary Journal Directions: As you read Heart of Darkness, you will note examples of important literary devices used by Conrad in the text. First, find the definition and fill them in the table below. Then, find and example from the text. You can find definitions on the internet (using a literary terms dictionary). Or in a Literary Dictionary. Online Literary Dictionary: http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/lit_terms_A.html Term/Definition: Example from the text: Brief Explanation as to How Example creates Meaning in the Text: Page #: Archetype: the original pattern or model of which all things of the same type are representations or copies â€Å"I’ve seen the devil of violence, and the devil of greed, and†¦show more content†¦Page 18 Stream-of-Consciousness: Writing in which a characters perceptions, thoughts, and memories are presented in an apparently random form, without regard for logical sequence, chronology, or syntax ‘â€Å"I was thinking of very old times, when the Romans first came here, nineteen hundred years ago - the other day†¦Light came out of this river since - you say Knights? Yes; but it is like a running blaze on a plane, like a flash of lightning in the clouds. We live in the flicker - may it last as long as the old earth keps rolling! But darkness was here yesterday†¦Ã¢â‚¬ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ This is when Marlow starts discussing and contemplating the theme of the story and how those from the past must’ve gone insane when faced with their own mortality and desperation, the terrors of sickness and insanity, the seclusion in the wilderness such as the sea or the jungle. Page 7 Style: The authors words and the characteristic way that writer uses language to achieve certain effects â€Å"†¦he began again, lifting one arm from the elbow, the palm of the hand outwards, so that, with his legs folded before him, he had the pose of a Buddha preaching in European clothes and without a lotus flower -† Rather than plainly stating â€Å"he sat down,† Conrad puts a mouthful of wordsShow MoreRelatedHeart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad vs. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe1476 Words   |  6 PagesHeart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad and Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe are two novellas written to make a statement about the struggles of early societies. Both stories stir up moments of hope, anger, disappointment, despair, and enlightenment in an attempt to inform the reader of the injustices and societal differences during the 1800’s. Heart of Darkness tells the story from a European Colonist perspective while Things Fall Apart illustrates the outlook of the African tribe member being colonizedRead MoreSanity of the Narrator in The Tell Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe766 Words   |  4 PagesSanity of the Narrator in The Tell Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe In Edgar Allen Poes The Tell-Tale Heart we question the sanity of the narrator almost immediately, but we cannot prove either way whether or not he is insane. I have read a lot of Poes work although not all of it. His mysterious style of writing greatly appeals to me. Poe has an uncanny talent for exposing our common nightmares and the hysteria lurking beneath our carefully structured lives. I believe, for the most part, thatRead MoreThe Importance Of The Symbol System Of The Msm Liturgy On Holy Friday1574 Words   |  7 Pageseffectiveness of the symbol system which was imperative as it formed the basis of the report and enhanced the credibility of the report findings. 2.2 Secondary Data The main sources of secondary data included a combination of book sections, websites and journal articles which were all used to support the findings of the primary data. All sources were reputable as they were recent documentations written or published between 2011 and 2016 with an exception to one source which was produced in 2003. All theRead MoreFahrenheit 451 Dialect Journal1653 Words   |  7 Pagesï » ¿Kristine Pham H. Freshmen Lit Composition Summer 2014 Dialectic Journal Assignment FAHRENHEIT 451 TEXT CHAPTER PAGE RESPONSE (Question, Predict, Connect, Clarify, Reflect, Evaluate) With the brass nozzle in his fists, with this great python spitting it s venomous kerosene upon the world, the blood pounded his head, and his hands were the hands of some amazing conductor playing all the symphonies of blazing and burning to bring down the tatters and charcoal ruins of history. ChapterRead MoreJames Joyce’s Dubliners Essay1493 Words   |  6 Pageseverywhere. One day, Mangan’s sister finally talks to the boy. They chat about the bizarre, and he promises to go and buy her something. While she speaks to him, he notices how the light â€Å"caught the white curve of her neck, lit up her hair that rested there and, falling, lit up the hand upon the railing† (45). As they speak for the first time, he is quite literally seeing her in a new light. After some convincing and waiting, he is finally cleared to make the journey to the bizarre. He arrives, howeverRead MoreAn Analysis Of Edgar Allan Poe s `` The Raven, And The Pit And The Pendulum 1872 Words   |  8 Pagesthey read it, and also based off of their personal backgrounds. Edgar Allan Poe’s stories are described as â€Å"disturbing† with disturbed characters. His stories are meant to bring chills down the spine. Most of them are based on death, and the darkness it br ings to the mind and how it affects your mental state. There is not life without death, and Poe really exaggerates this in his stories. Edgar Allan Poe was born on January 19, 1809. He was born in Boston, and his parents were both actorsRead MoreOrson Welles’s Citizen Kane (1941) and Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon (1950)1852 Words   |  7 Pagesstructure that is already in ruins shows how selfish and silical he is. Rains represent darkness and evilness present in the world. 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Make some noise for this is Mandaue City Science High School - Home of the legendary and visionary individuals. http://kathrine1emo.multiply.com/journal/item/16/Speech-Choir-Piece The Resiliency of a Filipino by William G. Bacani B : Filipino is resilient G : Since time immemorial, we are tested by countless calamities; volcanic eruptions, devastating earthquakes and lahar flows, super typhoons

Sunday, December 22, 2019

Technology And The Ancient Civilization - 2113 Words

Before there were tanks, machine guns, windmills, and solar panels, the first civilizations emerged that helped create the history of humanity which provided the larger context for Western Civilization. Uses of weaponry and technology were used very differently in the ancient civilizations than they are today. Relating back to the times of the Ancient Mesopotamian Civilization, technology kept advancing throughout the Ancient Egyptian Civilization into the Ancient Greek Civilization, and then finally the Ancient Roman Civilization. As techniques and strategies were past down from civilization to civilization, each shared its own similarities, as well as varied differences. One trait they had in common was to commit violence and economically overpower one another. Technology has ultimately advanced due to the knowledge transferred from generation to generation. Uses of sophisticated weaponry and devices have created more opportunity for warfare and improvement in the work place. Ancie nt civilizations became more powerful due to the advancements of technology. Technology did not only create the use of violence, but it also helped the economies grow and become stronger, because production of trading goods rose like never before. The rivers, such as the Nile, Tigris, and Euphrates all flourished, as well as destructed civilizations. Each civilization had different uses for these rivers, however, some benefitted more than others. When analyzing ancient civilizations, thereShow MoreRelatedAncient China Versus Ancient Greece Essay1008 Words   |  5 PagesAncient China Versus Ancient Greece Ancient China and Ancient Greece were two vastly different civilizations with different cultures; they shared a multitude of similar political, economic, and philosophical achievements while also inholding multiple differences. The centralized government of China differed from the independent city-states of Athens. A similarity that both civilizations held in regards to politics would be the role, or lack thereof one, that women played within their respectiveRead MoreAncient Greece : A True Civilization1507 Words   |  7 PagesGreece A True Civilization Joshua Soifer and Remy Dunn Eurasian History Mr. Yamada October 6 2017 As the politician and bishop Stephen Gardiner once claimed, â€Å"The center of Western culture is Greece, and we have never lost our ties with the architectural concepts of that ancient civilization†. In many ways, through their academic pursuits, philosophical ideologies, or advanced trade systems, Ancient Greek culture has proven to be the foundation for Western culture. Ancient Greece wasRead MoreAncient Rome And The Han Dynasty In China1279 Words   |  6 PagesLauren So 11/24/17 DBQ ESSAY During the Classical Period, Ancient Rome and the Han Dynasty in China were two prospering civilizations. On one hand, there was Ancient Rome, which was a civilization in the Mediterranean area that had been able to last about one-thousand years. Ancient Rome was also considered to be one of the most influential civilizations. The Han Dynasty on the other hand lasted four-hundred years and instead of being the most influential society, the Han DynastyRead MoreImpact Of The Barbarians On Ancient Civilizations1576 Words   |  7 Pageskilling people and pillaging villages and towns. The barbarians, Vikings, and the Mongols often don’t receive credit for the ways that they positively impacted ancient civilizations. Even though the barbarians, Vikings, and the Mongolians impacted ancient civilizations in positive ways they also did some things that impacted ancient civilizations in negative ways. When most people hear the word â€Å"Barbarian† they often think about the negative things that barbarians have done instead of the positive thingsRead MoreEssay on Compare/Contrast China and India896 Words   |  4 PagesChina and India China and India were both very advanced ancient civilizations. Both agricultural based civilizations made various technological advances. Although China and India shared many similarities, they had differences such as the social system, politics, and the importance of trade in the economy. The hierarchy of ancient China and India were similar with a noticeable sign of select individuals being considered â€Å"higher† then others. The caste system was strict in India and prohibited otherRead More The Lost City Atlantis1338 Words   |  6 PagesIntroduction We have all heard about the legend of Atlantis. It’s said that Atlantis was an advanced civilization with highly developed economy and technology. But one day, catastrophe occurred in sudden. Atlantis entirely sank beneath the waves in only one day and one night. In thousands of years, Atlantis has caught the imagination of people from all over the world. Many adventurers, historians and anthropologists spent their whole life trying to open the mysterious veil of Atlantis. But hasRead MoreThe Main Contributions from Greek Society Essay572 Words   |  3 PagesThe Greek civilization was the first European civilization. At this point in time religion is not prevalent or influential. The European religion was borrowed from the Middle East. There are two main contributions from the Greek civilization. They were politics and secular. Polis the Greek word for city state is where politics came from. They had modern politics with the first democracy. It was divided into city-states that rule themselves in a democratic fashion. With this they have the majorityRead MoreHow Did The Technology Of Roman Empire Impact It?1741 Words   |  7 Pagesneighboring countries. They revised battle tactics, weapons, legions, but mostly technology to emerge as an undisputed leader of the Mediterranean. The Roman Empire was eager to find new ways, new technology, to help the empire grow beyond imaginable. Arches, military weapons, and basic technology were all created by the Empire. However, the question trying to be answered is, â€Å"How did the technology of Roman Empire impact it?† Technology was any invention that helped ease the lives of many or wars to be finishedRead MoreIncas Versus The Aztecs And Mayans Essay1315 Words   |  6 PagesSpanish conquerors such as Spaniard Francisco Pizarro (1475-1541) and the spread of small box. At the peak of power the civilization extended 4,000 km (2,500 miles) and included 16 million people. They were extremely advanced, ha d an army, laws, roads, bridges, and tunnels. Inca’s were the most advanced civilization because of their government, agriculture, architecture and technology compared to the Aztecs and Mayans. 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Saturday, December 14, 2019

Management of Diversity Free Essays

MANAGEMENT OF DIVERSITY WITHIN AN ORGANIZATION Written and presented by: Tyson Johnson Charles Bushell Kori Greaves Introduction When most people envision diversity, the first things which come to mind are age, sexual orientation, race and gender. In Workforce America! Managing Employee Diversity as a Vital Resource, diversity is defined as: â€Å"otherness or those human qualities that are different from our own and outside the groups to which we belong, yet present in other individuals and groups. â€Å"The dimensions of diversity are further expanded but not limited to: age, ethnicity, gender, race, physical abilities/qualities, sexual orientation, education, geographical location, income, marital status, religion, work experience, military involvement. We will write a custom essay sample on Management of Diversity or any similar topic only for you Order Now † (Loden and Rosener 1991; 18-19) Principles and Objectives To address diversity issues directly one must question: What policies, practices or current strategies within our organizational culture have differential impact on different groups? What organizational changes should be made to meet the requirements of a modern diverse workforce and maximize the potential of all workers? The Key Principles and objectives of The Organizational Diversity Plan are as follows: * Promote awareness of workplace diversity within the organization (acceptance) * Develop and maintain a highly skilled and efficient workforce where the value and motivation of employees is present across the board * Develop a supportive environment where staff have a balance between work and their personal life * Provide a prejudice and harassment free working environment * Include diversity management principles in recruitment processes The Solution Acceptance of diversity: First and foremost, management must acknowledge that their working environment encompasses a wide variety of people. It is often difficult to see what part diversity plays in a specific area of management and how it relates to the development and success of the organization. A manager must understand that in the modern world, where migration due to education and opportunities is prevalent, diversity is an inevitable issue and must be handled in such a way that the organization can benefit and succeed. Development and maintenance of workforce: To develop an efficient team, a leader must be established within each team, group or department. The most effective team leaders build their relationships with workers through trust and loyalty as opposed to fear and power. A manager should consider the suggestions and ideas of all his employees. No idea should be considered as unworthy or idiotic. Employees should be made to feel like they belong and are part of the bigger picture. One should always seek chances to mediate and solve minor disputes before they get out of hand. This leads to greater harmony and a step towards achieving company goals. In mediating, directives should be clear and concise and must take into consideration everyone’s differences and views. The contribution of each team member should never be undervalued and the manager must remind his employees about the importance of his/her job to the success and development of the business. Employees should work on creating solutions on their own. This develops communication and builds a stronger bond. As a supervisor your initial priority in problem solving is stimulating debate. Employees are often afraid to disagree with one another and this may result in poor decisions made. Debate inspires creativity which further leads to a workforce which thrives on cohesion and efficiency. Develop a Supportive Environment: The working environment is always an important variable in having a productive staff. Diversity introduces many struggles including trying to maintain a balanced environment for employees. One must accept the fact that there is life outside of the workplace regardless of timelines and working hours. Families must be attended to, social activity to be maintained. It is up to management to forge a bridge between work and personal life in such a way that productivity is still maintained at a high level but with minimal stress. * The introduction of after work care for children of staff, will allow staff to continue to work outside of normal working hours but still be able to take care of their children. * Staff parties or outings are always a good idea to address the need for social interaction. This also gives workers a chance to understand different cultures and personalities of their colleagues. * Religious beliefs, and sexual orientations must be accepted and care taken to respect them. Prejudice and harassment free organization: The main problem realized with diversity is discrimination which comes in many forms. There should be a zero-tolerance policy with relation to prejudice or harassment of any kind. Regardless of race or culture or gender, each employee was hired for a particular set of skills or envisioned potential they could offer to the organization and they should be allowed to display and hone them. Discrimination breeds separation and breakdowns in communication which impacts very negatively on the productivity and advancement of any business. Where discrimination is identified as an issue, all efforts should be made to address the situation(s) as quickly as possible. Discipline must be swift and – in extreme cases – harsh in order to set the standard for further issues. Diversity management principles in recruitment: During recruitment and interviewing processes, management must bear in mind that everyone must have the same access to opportunities and ensure that a nondiscriminatory standard is used for the selection process. This can be aided by: Forming diverse selection committees to ensure bias free selection * Salary and incentives should be offered equally regardless of ethnic origin or sexual orientation * Make sure there is equal opportunity for both men and women Conclusion Management of diversity is one of the key goals of the modern organization. It is extremely important to comprehend how the dynamics of diversity affect performance, productivity, motivation and success within the business and le arn how to merge them. Some human resources policies and structures have created or presented barriers in an effort to mask the problem but this is far from the solution. These blockades must be removed to allow free interaction and communication between staff and staff and employer. Diversity is not a problem, but actually an aid in the development and advancement of an organization. As with any introduced policy, there is a need for continuous monitoring and evaluating. The modern business environment and attitudes contained are constantly being changed and molded. Bibliography Loden and Rosener – 1991 Oxford University Human Resources Department Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal – Ratsamy Phomphakdy, Brian H. Kleiner How to cite Management of Diversity, Papers

Friday, December 6, 2019

Contemporary Important Accounting Business â€Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: What Are The Contemporary Issues Important Accounting Business? Answer: Introduction The organizations in the current scenario need to adhere to the policies and regulations framed by the statutory boards. This helps the company in projecting the information that is correct and helps to create a positive impact. Moreover, disclosure leads to creation of goodwill and enable a higher level of transparency. Going by the level of complexity, it can be seen that the companies need to provide information to the stakeholders and both the financial, as well as non-financial information needs to be provided to the related parties (Deegan, 2011). Further, the information is assessed considering the concept of prudence, substance, materiality etc. Hence, it is of utmost importance that the statement must adhere to the conceptual framework. The same is indicated in the report through the selection of Woolworths and Qantas both listed on the Australian Stock Exchange. The disclosures by both these companies are studied in an effective manner and various concepts are studied in th e light of these two selected companies. Adherence to AASB standards and conceptual framework requirements The AASB (Australian Accounting Standards Board) is an organization whose prime work is maintenance and development of reporting standards that are applicable to entities in both private and public sector of the Australian economy. It utilizes a conceptual framework in order to analyze and develop accounting standards. In addition, based on the Australian Accounting Standards, it is mandatory for such previously mentioned companies to comply with the conceptual framework (Titman et. al, 2011). Nevertheless, the qualitative characteristics of helpful financial information apply to financial information offered in the financial statements. Taking into account the compliance and concepts, Woolworths Ltd and Qantas Airways have been selected, and their annual reports have been discussed in a thorough manner. Based on the materiality concept, information can be considered as material if misstating it or omitting it can influence decisions. Therefore, from the annual reports of both companies, it can be seen that they have complied with the ASX recommendations and principles of corporate governance in order to comply with conceptual framework requirements. Secondly, based on the faithful representation concept, both the companies have complied with the same qualitative characteristic (Zeff, 2007). This can be proved by the fact that both companies have offered a written declaration of their respective directors stating the fact that their annual report presents a true and fair view of their performance. Both companies have also adhered to section 295A of the Corporations Act 2001 to give evidence of the same. Similarly, both the companies have also adhered to the relevance characteristic of the conceptual framework in their annual reports. This can be proved by the fact that both have prov ided both financial and non-financial details in their reports that are relevant in nature or have a potential to influence the decisions of users. For example, Woolworths Ltd has provided a separate section under its remuneration report stating the particulars of their directors interests in performance rights and shares of the company. Similarly, Qantas Airways have also offered relevant details regarding their non-audit services provided during the year in addition to other statutory duties (Woolworths, 2016). The company has also certified that such non-audit services provided by the company are in compliance with the Corporations Act 2001. Lastly, both companies have also given due preference to a reliable characteristic of the conceptual framework so that users can make appropriate decisions based on the same. For example, Woolworths has offered material facts associated with their departure from Home Improvement and segregation of EziBuy and BIGW with each other. Despite knowing the fact that disclosure of such details can affect its financial performance, the company has not hesitated in disclosing the same. In the same way, Qantas has provided reliable information by proving how its earnings had enhanced. It had depicted that due to minimization in ex-fuel unit costs and revenue advantages from Qantas Transformation Program, the company had attained benefit in terms of revenues (Qantas, 2016). It can also be observed from the annual report of Qantas that its items of PPE (Plant, Property, and Equipment) are measured at cost minus impairment losses and accumulated depreciation. Besides, such items are initially recorded at fair value of the amount offered in addition to any incidental expenses incurred with the acquisition. In contrast to this, the PPE of Woolworths is recorded at cost less impairment losses and accumulated amortization. Moreover, there is one similarity betwixt the depreciation method of both the companies. It can be witnessed that even though the PPE of both companies is recorded on a different basis, yet their depreciation method is same. The depreciation method of both companies is done through a straight-line basis method (Spiceland et. al, 2011). Conceptual framework revision to remove disparities in corporate reporting The concept of prudence can be utilized as a synonym for conservatism concept. Everyone in his or her day-to-day life uses this concept. In simple words, prudence means to avoid unwanted outcomes or consequences by being careful or cautious (Fields, 2011). In accounting, this concept has long been regarded as one of the most significant concepts in the determination of time for recognition of revenue. Based on the prudence rule, gains must not be expected unless their realization is immensely probable. However, recent revision in the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles has resulted in an accusation from academic critics to the IASB for abandoning the concept back in the year 2010 (Ibrahim et, al, 2013)). This proves the fact that such revision was being made because there were various deficiencies in the conceptual framework for financial reporting The prudence concept can be easily witnessed in the annual reports of both the companies. Since its revision in the year 2015, companies have adhered to the conceptual framework by fulfilling every qualitative characteristic in order to be more transparent to its users. In relation to Woolworths Ltd, the basic engagement of AASB 9 can be witnessed in the affairs of the company. The specific engagement of the accounting standard guidelines plays a key role in offering an option for measuring every investment in equity instruments at their fair value, thereby assisting in identifying the probable alterations in the form of other comprehensive gains of the company. The impairment losses of the companys intangible assets are measured in their upcoming levels and are analyzed at regular intervals in order to make sure that the amortization figures are not overstated (Samaha Dahaway, 2010). Similarly, in relation to Qantas Airways, this concept of prudence can be easily observed in its se ction of Notes to Financial Statements (Qantas, 2016). In this section, it can be seen that the company has implemented a prudent vision wherein it will raise a provision for operating leases on premises and other customer contracts. The reason behind such step is the costs that are overcoming the contractual obligations of financial benefits intended to be achieved (Davies Crawford, 2012). Hence, with the help of such step, it can avoid its revenue figures from being overstated. Considering all these scenarios, it can be stated that prudence assists in recognition of revenue in the proper sense. In the absence of prudence, assets and income will become exaggerated and liabilities and expenses will be degraded (Melville, 2013). These can create various disparities in corporate reporting that can break the trust and reliance of users on the companys financial statements, as it will result in a material misstatement, thereby resulting in bad decisions on the part of such users (Horngren, 2013). Comparison and contrast between Qantas and Woolworths There are various similarities and dissimilarities between the annual reports of both companies. Firstly, both companies are listed on the ASX and adhere to the corporate governance principles of the ASX. Secondly, both companies have adhered to section 295A of the Corporations Act 2001. Thirdly, the depreciation method followed by the companies is similar in nature. The only key difference is that Qantas does not take into account freehold land while computing its depreciation. Fourthly, both companies have taken an opportunity to disclose their corporate governance statements on their respective websites. Lastly, both the companies implement due care while providing material information to their users. This is because both believe in safeguarding the integrity and morality of corporate financial reporting (Graham Smart, 2012). While Qantas achieves a maximum portion of its revenues from the airline industry, Woolworths attains its revenues from liquor retailing. Furthermore, while Woolworths intends to enhance priority and inclusion culture to gain control over its rivals (Woolworths, 2016), Qantas, on the other hand, intends to advance its strategies in order to maximize shareholder value. It also aims to drive tourism and trade, serve many communities, assist small businesses, etc. Lastly, the provisions made by both companies are distinct in nature. While both make a provision for onerous contracts, other provisions are not similar. Woolworths make their other provisions for employee benefits and self-insured risks, and Qantas make their other provisions for leased assets and insurance or legal risks (Qantas, 2016). Recommendation Due to various complications in the current market, the disclosure of material information has become very vital. It is recommended that companies must prioritize relevant information in their financial statements and discard immaterial information because it cannot influence the decisions of users. Moreover, in order to maximize shareholder value, companies must provide them accurate and timely information so that they can place their trust upon the company. Besides, transparency must be implemented between the company and its stakeholders so that issues can be easily taken into consideration through proper communication channels. Nevertheless, compliance with AASB standards and conceptual framework for corporate reporting is the most significant in order to thrive in the market Conclusion From the previously mentioned analysis of both the companies, it can be concluded that compliance with the AASB standards and conceptual framework is very significant to reach desired goals and objectives. This can be possible if proper and timely disclosures are made available to the users of financial statements. Moreover, companies must also be prudent enough to avoid material misstatements in their financial statements, as it can, in turn, hamper the decisions of users. Hence, both the conceptual framework and disclosure measures are vital for the success of a company, as these can balance and ease their performance, thereby maximizing their goodwill in the market. Nevertheless, Qantas and Woolworths have not disappointed in fulfilling such requirements References Davies, T Crawford, I 2012, Financial accounting, Harlow, England: Pearson. Deegan, C. M 2011, In Financial accounting theory, North Ryde, N.S.W: McGraw-Hill. Fields, E 2011, The essentials of finance and accounting for nonfinancial managers, New York: American Management Association. Graham, J Smart, S 2012, Introduction to corporate finance, Australia: South-Western Cengage Learning. Horngren, C 2013, Financial accounting, Frenchs Forest, N.S.W: Pearson Australia Group. Ibrahim M, Sweiti Dr. Osama F Attayah 2013, Critical Factors Influencing Voluntary Disclosure: The Palestine Exchange PEX, Global Journal of Management and Business Research Finance, vol. 13 no. 6, pp. 9-15 Melville, A 2013, International Financial Reporting A Practical Guide, 4th edition, Pearson, Education Limited, UK Qantas 2016, Qantas 2016 Annual report accounts, viewed 12 August 2017, https://www.qantas.com.au/infodetail/about/corporateGovernance/2016AnnualReport.pdf Samaha, K. Dahaway, K 2010, Factors influencing corporate disclosure transparency, in the active share trading firms: An Explanatory study, Research in Emerging Economies, vol. 10, pp. 87-118. Spiceland, J., Thomas, W Herrmann, D 2011, Financial accounting, New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin,University Press. Titman, S, Martin, T, Keown, AJ Martin, JD 2016, Financial management: principles and applications, 7th edn, Pearson Australia, Vic. Woolworths Ltd 2016, Woolworths Ltd. Annual Report and accounts 2015, viewed 13 August 2017, https://wow2016ar.qreports.com.au/xresources/pdf/wow16ar-full.pdf Zeff, S.A. 2007, Some obstacles to global financial reporting comparability and convergence at a high level of quality, The British Accounting Review, vol. 39, pp. 290302